Won't Be Fooled Again (CSI: Miami)

Member Name: utero

Product:	CSI: Miami
Date:	23/03/05 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be entertaining, Some strong episodes

Disadvantages: Characters don't really appeal

Five is now probably the best terrestrial TV channel in the UK. While it used to show trash it’s not reverted to showing quality entertainment. Funnily enough ITV, Channel 4 and to an extent BBC have gone the other way and got a bit more trashy. For example give BBC an excellent show like Arrested Development and they’re soon relegating it to a late night time slot on Friday night. They obviously learnt nothing from Seinfeld and Larry Sanders.

Five’s flagship show has to be CSI. The American import is the highest rated drama in the USA and has been for it’s five seasons so far. With that kind of success it wasn’t long before a spin-off was put into action. That spin-off was CSI:Miami and so far we’re two seasons along in the UK.

Now I’m a big fan of CSI, I’ve seen every episode and have every season so far released on DVD. Part of it is because forensic science is a fascinating subject, plus the show is entertaining, well made and generally better than what you get from the UK. But for some reason I just don’t feel the same about CSI Miami. For a start I think the show came too soon but also it’s just not as good.

Miami follows the same kind of style as its Las Vegas counterpart. The sunny locations are all there; things seem to be a lot sexier and of course you can’t really dress up forensic science in any other way to make it different. Really it boils down to the characters and personally I just don’t find them as appealing.

David Caruso returns to TV in the lead role of Horatio Caine. This character has some annoying traits like also addressing a scene wearing sunglasses, delivering a monologue as he takes them off. His lines are also quite direct, he’s not really got the humour or dignity of Gil Grissom. Sometimes I like Caruso in the role, other times I don’t. The Chief Medical Examiner is also a bit trite, the way she talks to the victims is a bit too cheesy for my liking. I’d rather have my medical examiners with a sense of humour and possibly a metal leg. The supporting investigators again are rather dull, you have blonde woman who is okay but has no real character direction. You also have the two guys, again there’s not really anything interesting about them. Kim Delaney also appeared from season one but disappeared after ‘problems’.

But just as I dislike most of Miami I also have to say that some of the episodes are quite strong story wise and at times quite moving. One episode deals with the murder of a little girl in a play area. What seems quite an ordinary case soon turns into something a bit more disturbing and shocking. There is also an episode that deals with a sexual assault. At the time it seemed to be more risqué than anything tried in its Vegas counterpart.

CSI Miami is a show I can take or leave. I certainly don’t make time each week to catch the new episode and I certainly can’t give you a lot more on the development of the show as I lost interest fairly early on. In the world of CSI I have to say this is my least favourite of the franchise. This is because the new addition of CSI:NY seems a lot more appealing and has better characters. If I was to see the dvd of Miami on the cheap then I’d probably give it a go but really there is only one true CSI and that’s still rolling the dice in Vegas.

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